NBA commissioner David Stern has worked quietly behind the scenes to have Knicks owner James Dolan bring back president Donnie Walsh to finish out the final year of his contract, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post.
Three years ago, Stern lobbied Dolan to hire Walsh to restore respectability to the franchise in the wake of the Isiah Thomas fiasco and the sexual harassment trial involving former marketing employee Anucha Browne-Sanders. At the time, Stern thought Walsh, a native New Yorker, was the perfect fit to restore dignity to the franchise and requested Dolan play a more behind-the-scenes role.
However, as The Post reported Friday, Dolan has hesitated on exercising the option on the fourth and final year of Walsh’s contract because he still has Thomas on his radar, speaking to him more than once a week. The deadline for Dolan to exercise the option is April 30.
It’s no surprise Stern has lobbied Dolan to stay the course with Walsh, who executed his plan of getting under the salary cap last summer, has put the Knicks into playoff position in his third season, and has them on track to be under the salary cap this summer and next with the possibility of acquiring Carmelo Anthony.
A league spokesman said yesterday Stern would not comment, that the commissioner would invoke the “commissioner-owner” privilege on inquiries about his conversations with league owners.
In a rare occurrence, Stern released a statement on the day Walsh was hired as president, April 3, 2008. The statement read, “In Donnie, the Knicks have secured the services of a seasoned basketball professional who is held in high regard throughout the league and to whom I have often turned for input on basketball matters over the years.” Stern went on to congratulate Walsh on returning to his “metropolitan roots.”
Yesterday, Walsh was in no mood to talk, heading for the locker room when reporters were allowed into the practice facility.
Sources have told The Post that Thomas is consulting with Dolan unofficially on Knicks matters, including the Anthony trade negotiations. Thomas has been quick to tell confidants of the role he is playing, perhaps looking to take credit down the road if the Knicks land Anthony.
Stern already blocked Thomas’ official entry back into the NBA in August when Dolan tried to hire him as a part-time consultant. After first giving the OK to Dolan, Stern ruled Thomas’ employment with the Knicks while coaching Florida International would result in a conflict of interest and violate myriad recruiting rules.
However, during a sitdown with Knicks writers in Paris during the club’s preseason trip, Stern said he would not stand in the way if Dolan wanted to bring Thomas back into the organization in the future.
Walsh’s job security became an even bigger issue when the club recently hired former Nuggets GM Mark Warkentien. A handful of reports, including one in The Post, suggested Walsh was prodded into making the hire because top-level Garden officials thought Warkentien could be an advantage in landing Anthony.
Walsh also sounded under distress when talking to reporters last week about his future, saying he was “embarrassed” about the issue and added, “If I leave tomorrow, I want to leave with dignity and I don’t want to blame anybody.”
When he was asked if Dolan thought the franchise was headed in the right direction, Walsh said, “I don’t know. I haven’t sat down and talked to him in a while. So I really don’t know. That’s up to him. He doesn’t have to share that with me.”